Geocaching draws scrutiny of state officials

Scott McLean, a conservation technician with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, uncovers a geocache in the Holly Shelter Game Lands in Rocky Point on Monday.

Mike Spencer/Halifax Media Services

By Kate Elizabeth Queram, Halifax Media Services

Published: Thursday, April 17, 2014 at 05:10 PM.

WILMINGTON — Just inside the Holly Shelter Game Land lies a “bling trail,” a manmade path lined with more than 600 hidden containers filled with trinkets, maps and notes from other people who’ve discovered them. The trail isn’t a secret, but you probably won’t find it — unless you’re a geocacher, outfitted with GPS coordinates and a love for a nontraditional type of hunt.

The hobby’s popularity, however, is drawing scrutiny from state officials who manage the game land and its use by more traditional hunters and hikers.

“If I wasn’t geocaching, I would never have explored the game lands,” said Matt Busch, head of the North Carolina Geocachers Association, or NCGEO. “A local couple from the coastal area placed several hundred caches in close proximity to one another and close to the road, which has made it somewhat of a magnet for geotourism.”

Geocaching is an outdoor activity where participants use GPS and other navigational techniques to hide and find containers — known as caches — anywhere in the world. Caches can be as small as triple-A batteries and as large as plastic recycling bins, and contain inexpensive trinkets, including foreign coins, Silly Bandz and toys from McDonald’s Happy Meals. They can be placed anywhere a geocacher thinks is worth seeing — locations with beautiful views, landmarks or tourist stops with interesting background. Geocachers log on to geocaching.com, the activity’s official website, to download coordinates of each cache, then head out into the wilderness to find it. There are more than 6 million active participants worldwide, according to the site, and roughly 2.4 million active caches, including dozens in New Hanover County, from Wilmington’s Riverwalk to Wrightsville Beach.

As the caches spread throughout North Carolina, state wildlife officials are reexamining recreation policies for the game lands, which have historically been used for more traditional outdoor activities, such as hunting and hiking. Fees from permits for some of those activities are used by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to maintain the lands, but most of the newer uses — including geocaching and mountain biking — aren’t regulated and don’t require permits, despite their growing popularity. The commission established a geocaching committee to address that issue, mostly for safety reasons.

“We burn the game lands, and we mow in certain areas, and sometimes geocaches are in these areas, so they get ruined or damaged,” said Erik Christofferson, division chief for the Wildlife Resources Commission. “Sometimes, they’re placed in sensitive areas where there are endangered species. We’re trying to just have it a little more organized so we know exactly where they are, and so the locations are approved.”

Officials have also placed signs around the game land asking geocachers to wear the same blaze-orange clothing that hunters do for added safety during hunting season, primarily in the fall and spring. In general, hunters who frequent Holly Shelter haven’t complained much about geocachers, though some would like recreational users to pay a fee to access the land. Under the current fee structure, hunters must purchase an annual sportsman’s license with a game land tag for $60 before setting foot there, said Scott McLean, conservation technician.

WILMINGTON — Just inside the Holly Shelter Game Land lies a “bling trail,” a manmade path lined with more than 600 hidden containers filled with trinkets, maps and notes from other people who’ve discovered them. The trail isn’t a secret, but you probably won’t find it — unless you’re a geocacher, outfitted with GPS coordinates and a love for a nontraditional type of hunt.

The hobby’s popularity, however, is drawing scrutiny from state officials who manage the game land and its use by more traditional hunters and hikers.

“If I wasn’t geocaching, I would never have explored the game lands,” said Matt Busch, head of the North Carolina Geocachers Association, or NCGEO. “A local couple from the coastal area placed several hundred caches in close proximity to one another and close to the road, which has made it somewhat of a magnet for geotourism.”

Geocaching is an outdoor activity where participants use GPS and other navigational techniques to hide and find containers — known as caches — anywhere in the world. Caches can be as small as triple-A batteries and as large as plastic recycling bins, and contain inexpensive trinkets, including foreign coins, Silly Bandz and toys from McDonald’s Happy Meals. They can be placed anywhere a geocacher thinks is worth seeing — locations with beautiful views, landmarks or tourist stops with interesting background. Geocachers log on to geocaching.com, the activity’s official website, to download coordinates of each cache, then head out into the wilderness to find it. There are more than 6 million active participants worldwide, according to the site, and roughly 2.4 million active caches, including dozens in New Hanover County, from Wilmington’s Riverwalk to Wrightsville Beach.

As the caches spread throughout North Carolina, state wildlife officials are reexamining recreation policies for the game lands, which have historically been used for more traditional outdoor activities, such as hunting and hiking. Fees from permits for some of those activities are used by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to maintain the lands, but most of the newer uses — including geocaching and mountain biking — aren’t regulated and don’t require permits, despite their growing popularity. The commission established a geocaching committee to address that issue, mostly for safety reasons.

“We burn the game lands, and we mow in certain areas, and sometimes geocaches are in these areas, so they get ruined or damaged,” said Erik Christofferson, division chief for the Wildlife Resources Commission. “Sometimes, they’re placed in sensitive areas where there are endangered species. We’re trying to just have it a little more organized so we know exactly where they are, and so the locations are approved.”

Officials have also placed signs around the game land asking geocachers to wear the same blaze-orange clothing that hunters do for added safety during hunting season, primarily in the fall and spring. In general, hunters who frequent Holly Shelter haven’t complained much about geocachers, though some would like recreational users to pay a fee to access the land. Under the current fee structure, hunters must purchase an annual sportsman’s license with a game land tag for $60 before setting foot there, said Scott McLean, conservation technician.

“I have heard them say, ‘If they’re going to use the gameland, they should pay too,’” he said. “It’s something to consider.”

All options are on the table for the committee, according to Christofferson. The goal of the policy, he said, is to strike a balance that allows both traditional and nontraditional recreational users to continue using the game lands.

“The goal here is to continue to encourage this activity but also to have some sort of method to where we know where these things are and can control it so it benefits both parties,” he said. “We don’t want to stop them from using the game lands.”

That continued use is potentially a boon for local businesses and hotels, as geocachers will frequently plan day and weekend trips to explore large clusters of caches like the ones peppering the Holly Shelter bling trail, Busch said.

“They’ll buy a meal, stay in a hotel, eat in restaurants and patronize the local economy,” he said. “We’ve had people from as far away as Minnesota come to that part of the state in what’s typically a tourism off-season, and they’re definitely staying for a couple of days, which is a great thing.”